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PC | Strategy Guide

Strategy Guide: Diablo II: The Paladin

Strategy Guide by John Marrin | 04/29/2003 | 13:40:39 PM PST

Holy monster slayer, Batman! It's the Paladin! If you're feeling righteous enough to take on Diablo II as the almighty Paladin, here are a few tips to help you on your divine quest to kick some evil ass.

Paladins are the blessed warriors of Diablo II. They use an interesting, and very effective, mix of magic and hand to hand combat to slay Diablo's evil minions, but what truly sets the Paladin apart from the other characters is that a good number of their spells have an aura effect. They can increase attack ratings for allies who stick close by, and wreak havoc on enemies that get within range. Paladins require a special blend of strategy that uses stand-off and close-range tactics in order to stay alive in Diablo II.

I Put A Spell On You
Thorns and Holy Freeze are both extremely useful combat enhancements that the Paladin can employ. Thorns causes damage to your attacker when you are hit during melee combat. The amount of damage dealt depends on how much damage the enemy does to you, with higher levels of Thorns adding nice damage multipliers. At level four, Thorns can cause 360% of the damage an enemy does to you. Not bad! Unfortunately, Thorns does not work against attacks from thrown weapons, arrows, or magic. So forget about using it against skeleton archers, but employ it when you wade into close quarters battle.

Holy Freeze is an excellent combat spell to use when faced with lots of small and quick enemies, especially The Fallen imps in the first act and the Fetishes in the third act. Not only does it slow down your enemies so you can catch the quick little buggers, it also slows down their attack rate. Couple Holy Freeze with a Zeal spell which increases your attack speed, and many of the baddies won't be able to hit you even once. You'll be mowing down the endless masses with incredible ease!

Mano A Mano
The Paladin also has formidable hand to hand combat skills. However, he isn't a Barbarian, so unless you have some magical armor and a superior health rating, avoid using two-handed weapons-- Paladins require the safety of a good shield to survive. You'll also need the best armor you can afford since you will be engaging the enemy at close range most of the time. Maces and scepters are a Paladin's specialty, and they're good weapons with a fast attack rating and decent damage. Later on in the game some of the magical ones give extra bonuses only to Paladins, so look out for them. Of course, there aren't any restrictions on using other types of weapons, so feel free to use that magic sword you picked up on the way.

General combat strategy for the Paladin is "know when to run." Paladins do have good hand to hand combat skills, but getting surrounded by a mob of angry monsters is a sure trip to the graveyard. When you come across a large horde, don't charge right in. Instead, carefully tempt a few monsters into following you away from the masses, and pick them off at your leisure. Then return to the crowd and lure a few more away until you've cleaned house.

In building up your Paladin character, you'll want to focus more on dexterity and vitality or life points, and less on mana and strength, though all of your character's traits are important to upgrade. The Paladin doesn't start out very strong, and some of the best armor and weapons later in the game require a pretty hefty strength rating, so be sure you don't short change yourself in this department. Though most of the useful skills like Holy Freeze and Zeal, don't use much mana,you'll still want to build your mana capacity somewhat; having a row of mana potions in your belt, or better yet, wielding a mana stealing weapon is usually enough to keep your Paladin's magic ability full.

Multiplayer Madness
In multiplayer games, even if you're not playing as a Paladin, you'll want to stick close to one! Paladins are the ultimate "team player" because their auras affect everyone within a certain range. Not only does a Paladin's Freeze spell mean easier combat pickin's for you, but the Fanaticism skill gives you the same speed increase as Zeal and it increases it for all party members! Very handy. Everyone should build up a decent Paladin character just to experience multiplayer games with one. The one issue you need to be aware of however, is keeping the other members of your party from wandering too far from you during combat. A game of Diablo II can end very, very quickly if you stumble on a horde of monsters, but a Paladin can give your party the extra edge they need.